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pet detective

I consider myself sort of a super hero.

Because I know CPR.

And I once saved a dog.

I rescued the dog on New Year’s Day which is a really good karma way to start off a new year. My husband Rick was at work and I was doing whatever I did before I had kids. That part of my life is very fuzzy but I think I was just leisurely wandering around the streets of Manhattan.

As I walked down 73rd street on the Upper West Side, I happened to notice this rogue dog, just running around without a leash or a collar. No one seemed to know who he belonged to so I brought him home with me.

I started calling different shelters and animal rescue places but they were all closed for the holiday. Meanwhile, my own dog Martini, who is extremely territorial, was none too pleased with our new canine house guest.

Then my husband sauntered in. Since he was completely exhausted from a lingering New Year’s Eve hangover combined with a day of work, he was very jazzed to learn that we had a new dog in the apartment. And that we needed to find his owner before Rick could just sit down, relax and watch some football.

I took a picture of the dog, made “Lost Dog” signs and then Rick and the stray went to Kinko’s to make copies. Yes, dogs are excellent at making copies.

Rick put up some of the signs in the neighborhood and then called to ask me,

“Where did you find this dog?”

“On 73rd between Columbus and Central Park West”

He had an idea. Rick took the dog and started asking the doormen on 73rd street if they recognized him. And sure enough, about three buildings in on 73rd, a doorman said…

“Sure! That’s Rufus. He lives in 2E.”

This building was pretty much the EXACT location where I had found the dog. So I’m not sure if I rescued the dog or stole the dog or maybe a little of both.

But the owner seemed grateful and dropped off a gift basket a few days later.

Every super hero likes a nice gift basket.

P.S. This post was inspired by my friend Smeredith who recently saved/stole a dog herself. Thank god there are people like us to keep all the dogs safe from harm.

Hahaha! The other day, I saw a lady with a dog around 72nd. She let him off the leash, spoke a few words to him, and he ran back half a block, weaving in and out of pedestrians, to his building where the doorman let him in – owner no where in site – as if he was an everyday tenant.

Kelsey, totally off topic but I was in Memphis for 4 days earlier this week and met your fab sister. Her co-workers, to a person (ok, to a woman), told me I had to check out your blog. I am so glad they did. It’s brilliant. Two awesome women; your parents did a great job, obviously!

We “rescued” a dog on July 4th in Chicago. He was hanging out infront of my parent’s house. After all the kids were done playing we called the phone number on the dog tags and the owners frantically ran over from two doors down. They were searching for hours. Opps. The kids had a blast.

I have a knack for finding stray/escaped dogs. And they always follow me home. Recently I was out running in the morning and a little dog came running after me, and I carried it all the way home to call her owner because she was going to run around in the street. I’ve never NOT found an owner yet! But it is kind of a pain in the ass.

Ever since my husband and I became foster parents for dobermans, we have become stray dog magnets. We adopted a beautiful, smarter than us, older doberman. He came fully trained and has so much personality. It was obvious his former owners loved him. But he wasn’t chipped. I searched and searched for his owners before we adopted him. So if you have an older dog that you love, next time you go to the vet have them check to make sure the chip (the ‘for the love of cheezus have your dog chipped if you want to keep it forever’ lecture is for another time) is still readable. They can move or encapsulate. It takes a few seconds to make sure it is still readable.

I had a similar save/steal situation with a very compliant dog who hopped right into the front seat of my van when I asked him to do so. I had an outdoor dog run which I figured would be a good place to keep him for a while since I had an appt. I had to keep. Well Mr. Easy-breezy refused to go into the dog run, so I put him into our mud room, with plenty of room and a nice bowl of water. I tracked down the owner who agreed to meet me at home in the hour it would take me to return. Within the hour Cujo had desimated my window blinds. It looked like the tazmanian devil was let loose! It turns out he had a “separation” issue. I’ll say! He separated me from $175.00!

BTW! I did the same thing with a lost child at the Phila Auto show! I swear!!! I took him to lost and found and everything! He could barely talk, but he pointed his Dad out to me and I screamed out “here he is”. That man was WHITE with fear and SSSOOO relieved to get back Billy or Bob, or Dewey or Petey or whatever the hell his name was. (he was about 2!) I didn’t stick around for a reward or anything, since I was pretty sure I might have been charged with kidnapping.